Ghosts of Presidents Future
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: There was not a clear category to put this under, so I chose the vaguest ones possible. I wrote this over a year and a half ago, when it still was not clear who was even running for POTUS in 2016. Please do not write any political comments or criticisms. Political ideology should not matter; this is just my prediction for the future.
1. 45th POTUS: Hillary Rodham Clinton

**45** **th** **President of the United States: Hillary Rodham Clinton (2017-2025)**

It was better late than never, some pundits said. Everyone had thought she would have become President eight years earlier…until a freshmen African-American senator from Illinois stole her thunder and the imaginations of the country.

Many of her supporters felt she had been robbed of the Democratic nomination that year. So, in 2016, they worked even more hard to make sure she captured it. Getting the nomination was not difficult at all this time. She had been the front-runner from the day after the previous presidential election. The uphill fight was the general election. Neither party had one three presidential elections in a row since the 1980's. For the Democrats in particular, it had not happened since the 1930's and 1940's with FDR and Harry Truman.

Thankfully, despite President Obama's waning popularity (a common occurrence for two-term Presidents), the Republican nominating contest was in disarray from the beginning. The Tea Party had come back to bite the GOP in the ass, and had for a long time. Establishment big wigs of the party tried to put forward a moderate candidate, as they had succeeded in doing with Mitt Romney the last time around. This time, however, the ultra-right would have none of it. Chris Christie was shot down for being too chummy with Obama, and scandals in his state of New Jersey did not help. The male and white factions that made up most of the GOP's base spurned Marco Rubio and his Latino heritage, despite the pleas that he could help win Florida and the Latino demographic. They finally chose Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Libertarian who selected Ted Cruz as his running mate.

Plus, Hillary Clinton had an impressive resume. She had been First Lady of Arkansas, and then First Lady of the United States beside her husband Bill, a senator from New York, and Secretary of State under Obama's first term. Yes, she was old at 69, but Regan had been that same age when first elected, hadn't he? When November 8th, 2016 rolled around, there was no question. Hillary won a historic victory and became the first female President of the United States. When she was inaugurated on January 20th, 2017, Chief Justice John Roberts said, "Congratulations _Madame_ President." It set a precedent for any future women to come.

Enraged that a Clinton had returned to the White House, Republicans became tougher and harder than ever. They vowed Hillary would fall in the next election, and that they would do what they failed to do with Barack Obama.

Yet, the country was fed up with the GOP. The Tea Party was becoming more radical by the day. It came as no surprise when they nominated Ted Cruz in 2020. Against an incumbent President, and with an economy that was reflective of the husband's booming one of the 1990's, there again was no doubt. Hillary won a significant re-election campaign. It would become the first time in US history that 4 Presidents in a row served two full terms.

When Hillary finally left office in 2025, the country was glad they had had her. But change was once again needed.


	2. 46th POTUS: Marco Rubio

**46** **th** **President of the United States: Marco Rubio (2025-2033)**

At the close of the 2012 election, many had dubbed him the GOP Savior. But that quickly faded when he attempted bi-partisan immigration reform in the Senate. He ran in 2016, after a law was passed in Florida allowing him to run for President and the Senate simultaneously. However, he was spurned by the Republican base and finished a respectable, but still distant third in the primaries.

Over the course of Clinton 45's presidency, Marco Rubio bided his time in the Senate. He even passed up the chance to challenge the incumbent four years later. He figured he was gaining more experience in the Senate, and besides, age was on his side. He had been extraordinarily young when he first ran for the Oval Office.

At the start of the 2024 election, the GOP was lost and just starting to put itself back together again. 16 years of Democratic rule, the Tea Party and the demons of their party's last President had shellacked Republicans everywhere. Morale was low, despite the booming economic times. Obamacare was thriving, as well as some moderate reforms placed in by Hillary. Still, that meant big government, and if there is one thing Republicans hate, it's big government.

In strode Marco Rubio. The 53 year old Senator was telegenic, a great orator and had natural charisma. Voters flocked to him in the caucuses and the primaries. Oh, the "Teabaggers" were still there, but less prevalent. The proof that the GOP was shaking the once-powerful faction appeared in a symbolic moment during one of the primaries. Rush Limbaugh lamented on his talk show over the likelihood of Rubio being the nominee. He said, and I quote: "We've already had a Negro and a bitch in the White House. Do we really need a Spick, too? Why can't he be a white male?" Liberal pundits liked Ed Shultz and Rachel Maddow ate the sound bite up, replaying it again and again. John Stewart and Stephen Colbert loved it, and even sang about it too. Colbert grabbed a ukulele and sang "Rush doesn't like a Spicky, a Spicky, a Spicky. Rush doesn't like a Spicky. Poor old Rushy!" However, it was the right's reaction that gave them everlasting credit with the electorate. The RNC chairman boldly leapt down Limbaugh's throat. He and major donors pulled their funds for the talk show. One GOP billionaire even sued Limbaugh, and liberal comedian Bill Maher also joined in the fun. A settlement was eventually reached, but the damage to Rush's career was done. He still has his talk show, but his rhetoric is much more moderate nowadays.

When November came, the electorate figured that they had punished the GOP enough for Bush 43's mistakes and that it was time for a change. Marco Rubio won a resounding victory, becoming the first Latino President of the United States. Everyone lauded the outcome. Smaller factions and white supremacist groups were the exception. They petitioned to secede from the Union, upset that the Oval Office had not produced a white male for the job in two decades. January 20th, 2025's inauguration was a beautiful one.

Democrats feared that all the hard work they had done for America over a decade and a half would be erased. But it was not so. The Democratic reforms were kept. The economy returned to the tax breaks for the wealthy policy, and there were some downturns, but it was nothing serious. The Democrats launched a challenge in the 2028 election, but their heart was not in it this time. They did not have the fire the GOP had had in the re-election challenges against Obama and HRC. Rubio won a resounding re-election victory. Some pundits wondered if we would ever again see an incumbent President lose re-election. Some thought the 4-year term period should be done away with it. (Thankfully, it was not).

When Rubio left office on January 20th, 2033, he felt great confidence in his successor. The country could not believe the 21st century was a third over. 5 steady Presidents over 40 years had made up for the rocky changing-of-hands that the Presidency had endured throughout the 1960's and 1970's, when the same number of leaders had passed though the White House in half that time. However, quicker power changes would return soon enough.


	3. 47th POTUS: Jon Hunstman, Jr

**47** **th** **President of the United States: Jon Huntsman Jr. (2033-2037)**

Jon Huntsman Jr. had been a Republican all his life. He had certainly been more moderate compared to some. His political career was a long one, dating back to the Reagan administration as a humble assistant. He would then become the Deputy Secretary of Commerce and later the Ambassador to Singapore under George H.W. Bush. The latter job would continue for the first few months of Bill Clinton's presidency.

After this, Huntsman took a hiatus from politics, before returning to be a Trade Representative for George W. Bush. He resigned from this brief post to make a run for the Governor of Utah. He succeeded, and was inaugurated in early 2005.

Into his second term as Governor, Huntsman was unexpectedly tapped by President Obama to be the Ambassador to China. He agreed, and left the Governor's mansion. He was at this job for two years before resigning to run for another office: President.

Huntsman's 2012 campaign did not go well. The party base, still under the spell of the Tea Party faction at the time, virtually ignored him. He dropped out of the primaries quickly when no one took to his moderate views. This was to the great relief of the Obama administration, as the country would later learn they had feared Huntsman might pose a real threat to their re-election's chances: even more than the party's eventual nominee, Mitt Romney.

Following his withdrawal, Huntsman took a much longer hiatus from politics, watching as 12 more years of Democratic rule marched on by. He was getting older, and was beginning to consider retirement when a surprising phone call came his way. On the other line was Marco Rubio.

Huntsman campaigned enthusiastically for Rubio as his vice-presidential running mate. He was ecstatic when they won. He was sworn in as the nation's 49th VP and took to his duties well. He was loyal to his President.

That loyalty paid off. When Rubio's eight years were almost up, he endorsed his Vice President for the Republican nomination. The electorate was another story. At age 72, Huntsman would tie 2008 nominee John McCain as the party's oldest first-time nominee. He would be the oldest President, older than Reagan or Hillary Rodham Clinton and two months shy of his 73rd birthday, if elected. That fact left the electorate wary, but he was also a white male…something that the Oval Office had not possessed for nearly a quarter-century. Eventually, Huntsman clinched the nomination. He chose a young Representative to be his Veep. They won a modest victory. Republicans were jubilant, and some recalled the days of Reagan and Bush 41, wondering if it was a return of that era.

Huntsman's moderate views drove the final fledges of the Tea Party into political purgatory. He was successful and felt he had achieved greatness when others had doubted or rejected him. However, he was getting old. Looking ahead, he wondered if he could survive a re-election campaign, much less a second term. The Office of the Presidency had been so tough and strong, even as incendiary politics and events had raged around it. The last President to die in office had been JFK. Huntsman did not want the potential of his own death to hurt the country. So, he did a courageous thing during a live TV broadcast. He said, "I shall evoke the words of our 36th President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, when I say I shall not seek, nor will accept, the nomination to be your President in 2036."

The nation, and the world, was stunned. When the shock died down, pundits tried to analyze the decision left and right. The common guess was that the President was getting old. Many praised the decision, and Huntsman's approval numbers went up. Everyone scrambled to hold a wide-open election that no one had expected to have for at least another four years.

Jon Huntsman Jr. would leave the White House on January 20th, 2037 tired, but happy. He would pass away peacefully at his home, just 2 ½ years later.


	4. 48th POTUS: Brian Sandoval

**48** **th** **President of the United States:** **Brian Sandoval (2037-2041)**

Brian Sandoval had been the Governor of Nevada way back during the Obama administration. He had never run for President before, but was nominated by the Republicans when President Huntsman announced he would not seek re-election.

Though he was not much younger than Huntsman when he ran, Sandoval's campaign stressed his fitness, which was pretty darn good for a 73-year old. He looked younger too, in his 60's some said. This eased the fears of the electorate over yet another old nominee. Sandoval won the election, adding the letter "S" to the Presidential alphabet for the first time in history. Republicans thought that a new era of Republican domination in the White House was on the rise. If some had speculated it when Huntsman won, it was all but a certainty now.

Sandoval's first term was a modest success except for one thing: the economy. This kept his approval ratings dangerously low as an incumbent going into the 2040 election. The Democrats, thirsty for political blood and starved for the White House, put forward a dashing and younger candidate for their nomination.

Pundits compared the campaign to that of the elder Bush and elder Clinton in 1992, almost have a century before. Indeed, it was very similar. Ultimately, after an ugly and grueling general election, Sandoval became the first President since George H.W. Bush to lose a re-election campaign.

Sandoval would follow in his immediate predecessor's footsteps as he left after only four years. The Democrats would tout him as a failure, like they had with Bush 41 before him, but Sandoval learned to rise above the criticism. He would become an active ex-President in the vein of fellow one-termer Jimmy Carter, dedicating the rest of his life to other means of charity and public service.


End file.
